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Hi all.

I've been lurking reading for about the last 10 days.

I never wanted to learn how to 'tend fires' and I didn't know there was such a thing as an electric smoker until I took an "all about bacon" cooking class and the chef was using one of your competitors to smoke homemade bacon.

OH my. I never want store bought bacon again.

So I started researching electric smokers and think I've decided on Cookshack 008. What am starting out thinking I gonna cook? Bacon, pork butt, pulled brisket, prime rib and turkey. I'm not a rib person, and prefer a light smoke to a heavy overpowering one.

I usually don't cook for large groups. About the biggest thing I've done was for last years Christmas dinner I took prime rib for 40 to work.

I do have a couple of questions.

In practical terms - how many lb turkey will fit in the 008 smoker?

Can I get 2 10 lb prime ribs in?

I've considered the Amerique, but the 008 sure is nicer on the budget. I'm not sure I really need the bigger size - given my questions above, please correct me if I'm wrong. I am comfortable switching to a hold temp myself, but the thing I wonder about most is the higher cooking temp available on the Amerique. Under what circumstances would the higher cook temp come in handy? What extra flexibility does that give because it doesn't seem like it's 'hot' enough to crisp skin up.

Thanks

Anne
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Hi Anne! Welcome to the forum. I haven't tried this, and it's raining so i didn't go outside an measure, but I think that on 10 lb turkey is probably the most you can fit into a Smokette because of the height of the bird and the spacing between shelves. With the optional 5 slot shelf rails you may be able to find a position for the shelves that would fit two.

For rib roasts I feel confident that with the 5 slot rails your would be able to fit two 10 lb roasts in there. You'd have to put one rack in the bottom position and the other in the 4th slot up and they should fit. Maybe someone with a Smokette and the 5 slot rails can measure the clearance for you.

Prime rib is one of my favorite things to cook in my Smokette. Read about Stuart's method here on the forum. It produces a very juicy and tender roast with great flavor.
I personally feel the prime rib is no problem at all and the turkey can be up to 20 lbs or even more. (I like big turkeys)

I had an 008 for two years and then I upgraded to an 055, for no particular reason but figured it would be the last smoker I would ever be buying.

Have done a prime rib (one of the best I have ever tasted even in restaurants) and I don't even think you would need the 5 rack side shelves for two of them in the 008.

As for the turkey, I have done one up to 15 lbs in the 055 and the trick (the necessary trick) is that you may have to turn it on end a bit because the turkey may be longer than 14 inches. But I didn't find that a problem.

You should probably do the turkey without any stuffing so the smoke gets into the cavity and the meat comes up to temp more quickly (food safety) but what I did last Thanksgiving was to smoke the turkey for 4 hrs to basically cook and smoke it, and then I turned it over to my wife to stuff and put in the oven for a few hours. Worked out fine.

Let us know if you have other questions.
Thanks, I appreciate your info. I do a pretty good low/slow prime rib in the oven at 250. Except the temp control/thermometer usually runs hotter than that. I'm looking forward to trying one in the smoker.

I see the dimensions listed for the unit, but without actually seeing the smokebox it's hard for me to imagine what would actually fit. So your real-world use does help.

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